Archive for Music

Best Music of 2009

// December 29th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Lists, Music

Its almost the end of the year, the perfect time to make the year-end lists. So I thought I’ll start with a list of the best music that I heard for the first time in 2009. I have tried to include an audio or a video sample for all the music in the list to help you discover new music too.

Lets start with the first part of the list with new music released in 2009:

1) Dev.D – All Songs: It was almost overwhelming to have 18 amazing and diverse songs in one album. I loved all of them and still do but my favorites are Dhol Yaar Dhol (sampled here), Nayan Tarse and Ek Hulchul Si.

2) Delhi-6 – Many Songs: Again, this album released close on the heels of Dev.D and had mostly good songs with Dill 6, Arziyaan and Dil Gira Dafatan (featured below) being my favorites.

3) Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance: A friend suggested this video to me which was fast becoming a YouTube sensation and for good reason. I liked the video & I liked the song more.

4) Miles Fisher – This Must Be The Place: Another song I notice because of the video was becoming a rage. This cover of the Talking Heads song pays a tribute to the movie “American Psycho” through its video. I like the electronic feel of the song and the video is good too.

5) Wake Up Sid – Kya Karoon/Iktara: Two awesome songs – one more than the other – from a surprisingly good soundtrack. I like Kya Karoon slightly more though.

6) Owl City – Fireflies: Another song suggested by a friend. Although the band was totally new for me, their music is very similar to one of my favorites, The Postal Service. Owl City is also a fan of them so its understandable. Really good, surreal, electronic pop!

7) Sara Lov – Fountain: Discovered this gem of a song on Amie Street. Fine lyrics, a haunting voice and soothing music make this a great slow, mellow song.

Now, the second part of the list with music that released earlier but received the honour of being heard by me only this year:

8 Stars – 14 Forever: Stars released their EP, Sad Robots late last year but for some curious reason, I missed it. I did get around to it this year and especially liked this song. Its a light-hearted, fun, summery song.

9) Feist – I Feel it All / Mushaboom: Last.fm recommended Feist to me based on my music library and they were right. I like the dreamy quality of her songs. See it for yourself in the Mushaboom video.

10) Anoushka Shankar & Karsh Kale - Oceanic, Part 2 (Feat. Ravi Shankar): This song is a classic example of how music doesn’t always need words. Fantastic piece!

So here you have the best music I heard in 2009. What were some of your favorites this year?

Back to School

// April 26th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // Life, Music

How different and consuming the past two weeks have been could be gauged from the fact that I did not listen to my iPod even once, which by the way, is the longest I’ve been away from it because no matter how busy I might have been, I always found time for it.

It has been a happy journey so far. Meeting so many talented and diverse individuals and trying to remember their names has been the theme so far.Things will change from tomorrow though as the first term begins. I’m all set to soak in the college classroom experience once again.

I’m all settled in this new routine but I’ve made sure to incorporate some of my old daily habits for the sake of having some familiarity.

Although the school is technically in Hyderabad, this place is a world in its own and could have been . anywhere in the world. I’ve only been to the city thrice and am yet to explore all the touristy places. I guess it’ll happen in due time.

Wow! Lots of scattered thoughts. Just give me some time and I’ll put it all together. I’m off to breaking my iPod abstinence now!

2008: Year Ender

// December 31st, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Happy, Life, Movies, Music, Television, Thoughts

Ah, the last day of the year! Always a good day for introspection. Fortunately for me, I’ve been introspecting for the past 1-2 months and though I am mostly satisfied with how things have been so far, I feel the need to do more in life. So the plan is to continue learning new things.

This means I’ll continue learning German (I recently completed German A1 level exam! Yay!), take up guitar lessons again, learn to swim, continue learning to cook and much more. Also, I had kinda loosened up on the fitness regime but no slacking from tomorrow. The fitness freak is back! The only new (and important) resolution for the new year is to spend as much money as necessary as opposed to spending as much as I can which is what I have been doing till now! 

Coming to the things I liked about the year, there were some movies that I really liked: Wall-E (of course!), Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Aamir and Dasvidaniya.

I didn’t find as much great music as I found last year but some of it was awesome. Few soundtracks (Wall-E, Juno) , some new (for me!) bands (Hellogoodbye, Goldspot) and some good Hindi movie songs (Aamir, Ada, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, all songs sung by Mohit Chauhan) worked for me.

Television took a backseat this year for me. I think my TV watching time was less than halved. Lost remained at the top of its game. Family Guy and 30 Rock continued to entertain. I discovered The IT Crowd and Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia and ensured that I watched each and every episode available.

Like I wrote in my birthday post, it was a mixed bag as far as my life is concerned, but the sum total of everything that happened is definitely positive. Also, I travelled much more this year than previous years and my first journey was on 1st January. Maybe its true what they say. What you do on the first day the year….

I look forward to 2009 and I hope it will bring the best of everything with it.

Wish you a very Happy New Year!